


I (Don't) Wanna Hold Your Hand

by j__writes



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, Teen Romance, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 05:30:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20736971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j__writes/pseuds/j__writes
Summary: “Suspension,” Mr. Starkweather states. “For one week.”[Or...]“You can hold hands for one hour.” The crowd breaks out into laughter and chatter. “Settle whatever is going on. The choice is yours.”





	I (Don't) Wanna Hold Your Hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dj_borntoread](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dj_borntoread/gifts).

> Prompt: https://twitter.com/mlightwoodbane/status/1081510126551552002?s=20
> 
> For Dev <3

Alec’s not sure how they always end up like this—in each other’s faces, shouting, shoving, and Alec is pretty sure his baseball cap has somehow found itself ten feet away. He’s not even sure why the petty arguments get to this point. He thinks they’re fighting about Magnus’ bad parking job. That’s what it started out as but now Magnus is yelling at him that he hates his perfect hair, and Alec just shouted back that he’s tired of Magnus’ tight pants. And yeah… it’s just a lot of nonsense at this point. 

Somehow their harmless jabs at each other became harsher insults that then turned into a lot of shouting matches which started out with rude words that have now become thinly veiled compliments. It’s confusing and, quite frankly, stupid. 

Jace is pulling Alec away from Magnus and Alec can hear him muttering words to calm him but he’s not listening. 

“Enough!” 

Alec throws Jace’s arms off of him and turns to where Principle Starkweather is marching towards them. 

“How many times do we have to break you two apart?” 

Magnus catches Alec’s gaze with a quick glare and, all too enticingly, runs his fingers through his silky black hair. “Sorry Mr. Stark—”

“Save your breath, Bane,” he hisses. “I’m sick and tired of this.”

Principle Starkweather storms into an open classroom, comes back a moment later dragging two chairs behind him, he shoves them into the middle of the hall, arranges them side by side and points. “Have a seat.”

Alec draws in a breath and is the first to sit, making it a point not to look at Magnus when he sits beside him. 

“I think I can speak for the entire student body when I say that the two of you fighting has dragged on long enough.” He moves to stand in front of them, crossing his arms. “I’m going to give you a choice.”

The halls are eerily silent for a highschool. Alec can feel eyes on him and he hates it. Fighting with Magnus is not worth it and he wishes desperately that he had just done a better job at ignoring him. 

“Suspension,” Mr. Starkweather states. “For one week.”

Magnus opens his mouth, a small sound choking out that stops when Mr. Starkweather raises a finger. 

“Your grades will suffer, it will go on your record, and I know your parents”—his sharp eyes go directly to Alec and it’s enough to make him want to curl in on himself because he knows his parents will ground him for the rest of the year if he gets himself suspended for a week—“won’t be too happy with that. Or…”

Magnus straightens up beside him and Alec can sense the relief washing over both of them. 

“You can hold hands for one hour.” The crowd breaks out into laughter and chatter. “Settle whatever is going on. The choice is yours.”

Alec’s hands instinctively curl into fists in his lap, his nails digging into the fleshy heel of his palm. 

Magnus groans beside him.

The choice should be easy. It is easy. Alec knows he can’t afford to be suspended and Magnus… well, Magnus is on track towards being class valedictorian and has a perfect attendance record. The decision is perhaps made for them at this point but Alec doesn’t want to be the first to give in. He’s annoyingly stubborn that way. He hates to lose, _ especially _ against Magnus, and conceding to this –is a forfeit Alec isn’t quite willing to make, and he’s fully prepared to die on this hill of pigheadedness he’s standing on. 

There’s a tap on his thigh and he looks down. Magnus’ hand is resting there, palm up, fingers spread. Looks like he wins this one. Alec’s tempted to make a remark about it as he slides his hand into Magnus’ and laces their fingers together but Magnus curls their hands together and the warmth and comfort of the action shuts Alec up. 

Mr. Starkweather looks pleased with himself, checks the time on his watch and then waves his finger in a circle in the air. “Round it up and get to class! Nothing to see here.”

Everyone immediately disperses, Jace gives Alec a wide-eyed look of concern before he turns to go to their homeroom class. 

Only a few minutes pass before the bell rings and the last classroom door slams shut. It’s quiet in the hall and Magnus’ hand rests comfortably in Alec’s hold. 

“We got lucky,” Magnus says after a long silence, voice quiet and rough. “He could’ve suspended us.”

“Yeah. I doubt he’ll be so lenient next time.”

Magnus turns to him, eyes sharply narrowed on him. “There’s not supposed to be a next time. This is our last get out of jail free card and we’re supposed to stop whatever this is that keeps happening between us.”

“Well, maybe if you didn’t take up two parking spaces, we wouldn’t have fought.”

“Fuck. I said it was an accident. I was in a hurry. Just let it go.”

“Whatever, Magnus.”

Magnus sighs and adjusts himself in his seat. “Why do we keep fighting? Plenty of people park like assholes all the time and I don’t see you getting in their faces over it, so why me?”

Why Magnus? That’s a good question that Alec doesn’t have the answer to. 

Hell, he started out with a crush on Magnus and then it spiraled into this. Not quite hate, not quite love but definitely attraction with a dash of annoyance. Small bickerings turned to more. Alec sighs. Things really did get out of hand. 

“I don’t know, Magnus,” Alec says with a sigh. “Why do you keep fighting with me? What did I ever do to you?”

Magnus hums. “Raj’s party Sophomore year.”

Alec raises a brow at him. He remembers the party well and he doesn’t remember anything bad happening.

“You were a jerk,” Magnus says. 

“How? We barely spoke.”

Magnus looks at him and Alec hasn’t really let himself _ look _ at Magnus lately. Hasn’t appreciated how attractive he is. How deeply dark his eyes are but yet somehow still glimmer in the lights. “Simon introduced us.” 

Alec nods. “Yeah, I remember that much.”

“And you ignored me.”

Alec’s brows pinch.

“I asked you about school and I know you heard me because you just stared at me for a solid twenty seconds in complete silence before walking away.”

Okay, yeah, maybe Alec does remember that. But Magnus has it all wrong.

“It was so incredibly rude and then after that, any time I saw you, you’d barely acknowledge my existence and then when you finally did it was to say catty remarks and now… here we are.” Magnus lifts their joined hands and drops them back to his lap. “That’s why, Alec. So what about you? What made you hate me so much from the moment you met me?”

“I didn’t hate you.” 

Magnus looks at him, eyes wide in shock and Alec is going to hate himself for admitting this but he’s tired of the fighting if he’s being honest. He’s tired of covering up everything he feels, pretending indifference to make things easier. 

He rubs at his eyes with his free hand, pinching his brows, mentally preparing himself, delaying the inevitable embarrassment. He clears his throat with a grunt. “It was the opposite actually.”

Magnus tips his head and he’s so silent it’s unnerving. 

Alec meets his eyes. Here goes… 

“When Simon brought you over to me, I thought to myself ‘wow this is the most beautiful boy I’ve ever seen in my life’.”

Magnus’ mouth parts. “Wha—”

“I was honestly speechless and I have this terrible habit of freezing up when I’m nervous and I don’t even know if I heard you talking to me, everything happened so fast and I panicked.”

“You panicked?”

“I panicked. Choked up. Wanted to throw up I was so nervous.” Alec hides his face in his hand and groans. “I hid in the bathroom for the rest of the party.”

Magnus laughs. It’s loud and unfiltered, he’s covering his smile with his other hand and he doubles over in his seat. 

“It’s hilarious, I know,” Alec deadpans.

Magnus shakes his head and Alec waits for the laughter to subside in small gasps. 

“I’m sorry. It’s not…” Magnus presses his lips to stop himself. “You gay panicked.”

Alec grunts. “I mean… if you want to put it that way.”

“I’m just calling it what it is.”

Alec rolls his eyes. “Yes, Magnus. I gay panicked at the mere sight of you. The opposite of hating you,” he says, looking at Magnus again.

Magnus smiles at him, fond and soft. “What a fucking waste of time.”

“Hm?”

“Our fighting.” Magnus barks out another laugh. “God, we wasted so much time fighting. For nothing!”

“Well, I guess you had a legitimate reason. You thought I was an asshole who didn’t bother answering your question. And I just… went along with it because you hated me for what I thought was no reason.”

“Like I said, a fucking waste of time.” Magnus leans into Alec, bumping him with his shoulder. “I thought you were so cute,” he admits. It’s so quiet Alec thinks he’s making it up but he knows he’s not. 

“You did?”

“I do.”

Alec’s eyes widen. “Still?”

“Well, your face didn’t change over the past couple of years, darling.”

One pet name. One tiny term of endearment and Alec’s face is red hot. He can feel it. 

“What about you?”

“What about me?” Alec chokes out.

“Am I still the most beautiful boy you’ve ever seen?” Magnus asks with a blush on his cheeks and a shy smile he tries to hide by tucking his chin down.

“Like you said, your face didn’t really change,” Alec says. He taps on Magnus’ chin to raise his face to look at him. He drinks in the golden skin, dewy pink cheeks, lips in a puckered pout. “Yeah. Still the most beautiful boy I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Magnus bites onto his bottom lip, trying and failing at keeping a smile at bay. “You should make it up to me.”

“Yeah? How?”

“Ask me out on a date.” Magnus’ shy smile is gone, replaced with a confident upturn of his chin and smirk. 

Alec chuckles and strokes his thumb along the back of Magnus’ hand. “Magnus, would you like to go out on a date with me?”

“Hm…” Magnus taps on his chin. “I don’t know,” he drawls out. “You have been kinda mean.”

Alec glares at him. “Seriously? Did you want me to ask you just so you could reject me?”

Magnus giggles. “Yes, Alec, I’ll go on a date with you.”

Alec grins. “Friday night?”

Mr. Starkweather starts to make his way down the hall towards them. 

“Pick me up at seven,” Magnus whispers.

“Well? How’d everything go? Have you set aside your differences?” Mr. Starkweather asks and it’s clear he’s filled with doubt.

“Yes, sir,” Alec says. “Everything’s fine.”

Mr. Starkweather looks at Magnus for confirmation which he gives by smiling widely at him. 

“Great. Then, I’ll let you boys get to class.”

They stand and Alec reluctantly lets go of Magnus’ hand, holding on until Magnus steps far enough away that Alec’s fingers trail before his arm drops to his side. 

Mr. Starkweather watches them curiously, eyes following Magnus as he crosses the hall and scoops something up from the floor. 

Alec offers Mr. Starkweather a small smile. He wishes he would take a hint and leave them alone but there’s a slim chance of that happening.

Magnus is back in front of them and he slides Alec’s fallen baseball cap back on his head, taps the tip of Alec’s nose and murmurs a quiet and promising, “See you Friday” before walking away. 

Principal Starkweather is blatantly confused and Alec suddenly doesn’t remember anything about their fight from one hour ago. Crooked parking who?

  



End file.
